Definitely look into a hotel. Call and ask to speak to the person in charge of long-term stays. We did this while we were house-hunting and stayed at Home2Suites in Williston for months. Not only do they allow cats, they have a once-per-month pet fee of only $75.

The way I made this profitable/feasible was to put it on a Hilton credit card I had which gave 7x points for stays, plus signed up for a 3x point promo (future vacation stays paid for!). You also get a huge discount per night depending how long you stay, and then every tenth night is free. Plus no room taxes after 30 days.

When you factor in the free breakfast, cable, wifi, heating, electric, pool, linens, etc., we wound up paying just about what we did in rent in Raleigh, NC.

You won't get the full VT experience of snowy peaks and boundless nature unless you drive a bit, but you'll be surrounded by great shopping and everything worth visiting is within driving distance.

And best of all: you won't be in Texas anymore.